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The Campaign
The adventures of the party began on the 7th of Burgeon's Dawn 1007, in Mistvale, a small town in western Belaeron. Gathered at the tavern, Achlys' Revenge, a cheerful high-elf innkeeper by the name of Servius employs the party to hunt and kill an abnormally large elk sighted near the town, offering free food and lodgings in return for the meat of the creature. Together, the party successfully tracked down the beast in the woods surrounding the town, and found themselves forced to fight off a pack of wolves while transporting the carcass back to Mistvale. Once back at the Achlys' Revenge, as the sun set, a mysterious mist grew outside the safety of the town's walls. The mist proved to be no ordinary mist, but rather a magical veil concealing a deadly threat. Whilst still in the tavern, the party witnessed an elderly, seemingly mute, man with a hideous scar across his face getting harassed by a group of young men, accusing him of being responsible for the lethal mist. The inquisitive party eventually decided to question the group, which was met with a hostile attitude. The party set out to investigate the mist, looking for leads that might give them answers to what might be causing it. Upon visiting the Mist Brewery, the party once again encountered Egon Kramer, the leader of the group they'd met the previous day in the tavern. who offered a reward if they could bring him any evidence that would implicate Albrecht, the elderly, scarred man, as the cause of the mist. The party went to Albrecht's home, but the man proved uncooperative, leaving the party to attempt to figure out a way to make him communicate. Their plans, however, failed, resulting in a broken window and an angered Albrecht running off to fetch the town guard. After plenty of searching and interrogating, the party found themselves no closer to a solution than when they started, and decided to venture out into the mist. Soon after walking through the town's gates, a wraith-like being emerged from the mist, and a violent battle ensued, leaving many of the party's members injured. Upon defeating the entity, a ball of light shot off into the mist, prompting Storm and Fritz to follow it. The orb led them to a blocked off cave entrance, which was cleared with the help of Fritz's pure strength. Inside, the two found several suspicious items, the most intriguing being an amulet inside an ash filled urn. After clearing out the cave, they followed a tunnel that brought them to a basement in the town. Exiting the basement brought them to a house they recognized: Albrecht's home. The following night, Storm presented the party with a heist plan; the goal of which was to take control of the Mist Brewery and run it for monetary gain. While debating the plans, the party attracted the attention of a nearby group of drunkards, who eagerly signed up to help. However, in their intoxicated state, the drunk town's folk misunderstood the purpose of the plan and set out to burn the brewery to the ground. Luckily, the party found out the following day that nothing had come of the drunk men's plans of burning and pillaging the brewery, and their own heist plans where put on hold. Later on, while speaking with Egon, Jaxson became eager to prove that no spirit still lurked in the mists after they had defeated it. As Egon was watching, Jaxson entered the mist and quickly realized his mistake, as the spirit had returned. The party was then forced to fight the spirit once again, only this time, they were interrupted by a voice in the mist. The voice, which turned out to belong to Albrecht, explained that the spirit belonged to his friend Kordt Gillenheim, who had once been an Excellent of the Arcanum. Once the Arcanum fell, Gillenheim returned to Mistvale where he knew he could trust the people. Some of the townsfolk, however, betrayed him, which resulted in his death. As punishment for hiding a mage, Albrecht himself was slashed across his face and left for dead in his house which had been put on fire. Using an old ritual he discovered in one of Gillenheim's tomes, Albrecht brought him back as a vengeful spirit with which he had a bond that allowed him alone to speak with him. Knowing that the party already knew of his involvement, Albrecht offered them safe passage through the mist, provided that they did not tell anyone of what they had discovered. After some discussion, the party ultimately decided to accept the offer and left the following day. The party headed south-east, with their destination being Riverport, a castle along the road to Venderthal, as Latvius Schlauch had employed them to deliver a message to his cousin Timne, an inkeeper in the village Korrinstorp near the castle. Although their travels initially went well, they eventually found themselves ambushed by a group of bandits while setting up camp for the evening. They made quick work of the bandits, managing to keep one alive for interrogation. The frightened bandit, Dave, didn't put up much resistance and informed them of his boss, a highwayman going by the moniker Orlund the Quick. Leading the party to their camp, they stormed into the bandit infested cave and faced off against the half-elf and his ogre bodyguard, Dumb-Log. The battle didn't go as planned, as both Jaxson and Dara taken out of the battle, forcing Arisa and Fritz to surrender. Storm, on the other hand, refused to be taken captive and saw his opportunity to flee, leading Orlund to chase after him while Dumb-Log watched over their newly captured prisoners. The goose chase ended in favor of Storm, as he successfully managed to run and hide in the woods. Orlund returned to his cave for a short while before heading back out. Once he returned for the second time, he demanded that the party goes and hunts down their companion. Having barely rested, the party were released from their cage and ventured out all the while closely watched by their captors. As they discovered their friend's hiding place, they turned on Orlund and Dumb-Log, starting a second battle. This time, however, they emerged victorious, as Fritz slit the throat of the bandit leader. The party then proceeded to spend the night in the highwaymen's former hideout. As morning came, Storm headed out with Arisa to harvest bones from the ogre they'd slain the prior night. Whilst doing so, they spotted a large group of people approaching on the road, seemingly members of the army. As they drew closer, Storm revealed himself and spoke with their commander, a surprisingly young woman by the name of Colonel Clarisse de la Nuit, who explained their intent of killing Orlund for reasons unknown. The group turned out to be the Shadow Company, a subdivision of the Nighttide Brigade, a military unit acting as the special forces of Belaeron. Before moving on, Storm briefly exchanged a few words with the lady de la Nuit's second-in-command, Major Wimund. After their encounter with the Nighttide Brigade, the party ventured onwards, continuing on their journey to Riverport. Upon their arrival in the village Korrinstorp, they hurried to make their way to the First Light Inn where they found Timne. As they handed over the letter, they noticed, however, that the man was acting nervously, going so far as to refusing to serve them anything from the inn. Before they could get to the bottom of the strange behavior, someone by a window shouted that someone had arrived, sending everyone into mild panic. Soon, the door swung open and a regal looking man accompanied by two enormous goliaths entered. Seeing this, Dara immediately recognized the markings on one of the golaith's forearms as matching those of her father, allowing her to determine that the two hailed from the same village. As the noble-man's eyes landed on the party, he interrogated them with a fake smile, asking whether they had been treated fairly. When the party told the man that they hadn't been allowed to order anything, his faked smile dropped and he demanded that they leave his lands as such "filth" as them does not belong there. Before the regal man could finish his rant, a servant entered, telling him that lady Clarisse de la Nuit had arrived, causing him to promptly leave the establishment to go greet his newly arrived guest. The party eavesdropped on the two as they conversed, hearing the colonel addressing the man as Duke Roderick of Riverport. Lady de la Nuit handed over a gift in a rectangular wooden box before they set off together towards the castle. As the party was left alone, an older looking elf approached them, presenting himself as Benedict Blase, a traveling historian. He confessed to having heard their squabble with the duke and offered them lodgings in a cabin he'd rented. They accepted and spent the evening sharing tales. The following day, the party spread out to explore the area. It didn't take long before Storm had managed to anger the guards with a series of insults while attempting to enter the market within the castle's walls. To avoid arrest, Storm was forced to run. After an extended chase, Storm managed to hide in a barrel in Fellshaw, another village located to the north of Riverport. Before long, Storm was discovered in his hiding spot by two members of the Nighttide Brigade, which once again forced him to run. The escape attempt ultimately led to Storm being cornered in the crow's nest of a large sailing ship at the village's docks, with the two Nighttide Brigade soldiers pursuing him. As they reached him, Storm prepared to attempt a jump to the water below, but when he realized their intent was not to capture him, but rather bring him to speak with the colonel, he reluctantly agreed. Along the way, he was reunited with most of his fellow party members, who accompanied him to his meeting Back at the castle, the duke was angered at the sight of the party, but upon learning that lady de la Nuit had taken interest in the bunch, he allowed them passage. Inside Clarisse's guest chambers, the young woman offered Storm a way out of his trouble: by enlisting in her brigade through a temporary employment. Storm agreed, and the rest of the party followed suit in joining. Over the next couple of days, the party used the benefits of being a member of the brigade, as it allowed them to access any part of the Riverport area from which they had previously been shut out. While the party was busy with various tasks, Storm snuck into the castle's basement, where he stumbled upon a massive vault door. Utilizing his expert lock-picking skills, Storm managed to crack the three-key lock mechanism and soon found himself standing before a pile of riches which he estimated to be worth three hundred thousand gold coins. Due to lacking means of transportation, Storm had to abandon the vast majority of the gold, but managed to leave four thousand gold coins richer. In the meantime, Dara had sought out the goliaths, as the markings she recognized intrigued her. The man she was looking for turned out to be Delven Iron-Will, the brother of her deceased father Eglig Honest-Warrior. Much like Dara's father, Delven had been captured and sold by slavers, and served the duke as a result. The two conspired to get Delven and his family out of there. Some time later, the party's exploration eventually led them to a graveyard not far from Riverport, as they followed their friend Benedict Blase. Once they were there, they were told the tale of how the former wife of the duke, Countess Aleena, had suddenly died of a strange disease a few years prior. Upon hearing the suspicious story, the party opened the late countess' grave only to discover signs of poisoning on her skeleton. As the party overheard rumors of the Nighttide Brigade preparing to move onward, they decided it was time to free Dara's relatives. After nightfall, Dara used magic to disguise herself as the duke, with the hopes of creating a distraction long enough for the goliaths to run off. The plan ended up going south, as the guards watching over the slaves' homes, injured Storm set off after him. The archers that remained, on the other hand, ended up getting torn down from their spots and brutally murdered by Delven and his brother-in-law, Thorald Stone-Bearer, the second goliath the party had seen escorting the duke on the day of their arrival. The goliath family successfully fled, taking Dara's advice to travel to Mistvale and seek out Servius for help. When the party returned to the army camp, they met with an angered major Wimund, who had found out about murders of the two archers, and the surviving guards pointing them out as present on the scene of the crime mere moments before the murder. Rudolph, the son of the duke, arrived at the camp soon thereafter, proclaiming that there would be a trial held the following day. The trial, however, ended up being inconclusive, as the duke was unable to provide sufficient evidence that would implicate the party as the perpetrators of the crime. Instead, the Nighttide Brigade left Riverport the following day, and the party followed, as they made their way towards Stronwick where the Shadow Company's garrison was located. As the journey progressed, the weather grew increasingly worse, with lightning and thunder becoming more and more common. On a night when the party was put on watch duty, they were attacked by a shambling mound, a creature made of vines, born of lightning. Although the battle left them exhausted and hurt, they dealt with the threat and completed their duty. On the fifth night of their journey, the weather had gotten too bad to set up camp outside, forcing the entire company to seek shelter inside a vast cave system found by one of the scouts. To avoid the soldiers being cramped together, they were ordered to split up into smaller groups and find room somewhere further into the caves. Once the party had found a place to rest and begun making setting up their camp for the night, they heard a cracking noise from underneath the floor, mere moments before the entire cave collapsed downwards, sending the party tumbling down a steep ledge. After recovering from the fall, the party spent the night resting in the tunnel they had emerged into. Once rested, Dara attempted to use magical light to send signals up the shaft left behind where they had fallen, as they heard the vague sounds of voices coming from up above. When the attempt yielded no results, the party delved deeper by following the tunnel they crashed into. After a short while, their path diverged into two possible ways: the continuation of the tunnel, and a mysterious constructed doorway with a hovering skeletal figure cloaked in a black robe. Feeling precautious, the party investigated doorway from a safe distance, soon discovering that the dead body was held in place by a gelatinous cube. Without engaging in combat, the party disposed of the cube and emerged into the room. While dealing with the cube, one of Dara's eldritch blasts had penetrated through the wall opposite of the doorway, revealing a previously blocked off path emitting a strange white light. Before venturing through, Jaxson grabbed a journal which had also been caught inside the cube. With Fritz taking charge, the party began traversing through the hidden tunnel. Suddenly, two seemingly harmless puddles of water came to life into grey goo-like creatures that engaged in combat, corroding one of Jaxson's glaives. The party continued after a swift victory and discovered that the source of the light was a small orb. Feeling ready to move on, the party ventured back to the intersection and continued down the tunnel, but were soon faced with a force barrier. Reading through the journal, Jaxson discovered a passphrase written in the language of the Arcanum, allowing them to keep moving onward. The tunnel eventually brought them face to face with a barlgura, a hideous demon that had ascended from a large portal. As the battle with the fiend ensued, a booming voice thundered from the portal, and more demons appeared. Although the party successfully dealt with the barlgura and the quasits that followed it, once a shadow demon arrived through the portal, they were forced into a retread. Desperate to escape, Dara read through the journal, discovering an overlooked recipe to break the portal, the ingredients for which were found on a small alchemy table in the room behind the doorway. With the solution in hand, the party returned to the portal and defeated the shadow demon and cleansed the portal, allowing them to use it to travel back to the upper cave systems from whence they'd come. Reunited with the Shadow Company, the party received their mission briefing the following day. As they would arrive in Stronwick, their objective would be to capture or kill the leader of the Blood Pact, a subdivision of the Outcasts and terrorist organization that had been plaguing the city for some time. To avoid being seen in the company of the Nighttide Brigade, a private with shape-shifting abilities by the name of Claim was assigned to the party as they were sent ahead of the rest of the company. Upon their arrival, the party waited outside the Nighttide Brigade's keep until the rest of the forces reached them. As Lady de la Nuit entered the open space outside the keep, followed by her soldiers, an explosion erupted from the nearby buildings, killing dozens of civilians and soldiers alike. Blown backwards by the shockwave, the party struggled back to their feet only to see armed men in patchwork armor flooding into the streets, hacking away at the brigadiers. As they debated whether to risk the mission by helping, a massive horned man in full plate armor and a billowing crimson cape engaged in combat with Wimund, easily winning the duel. Upon seeing the major in grave danger, Storm rushed into combat, soon followed by the rest of the group. Just barely managing to keep Wimund alive, Storm dealt the killing blow unto the armored brute, rendering them victorious in the battle. In the aftermath of the battle, Clarisse ordered the party to follow her into the keep. Once inside, they were commended for their intervention, as it saved the life of Wimund. Although several stragglers may have spotted the party as they fought with the Nighttide Brigade, Clarisse informed them that they would still go through with the mission, but that they should lay low for some time while all her men in fighting condition would be dispatched to deal with the last Blood Pact survivors form the attack. In the meantime, Clarisse recommended them to visit Joris Poulton, one of Stronwick's district rulers, as he had been seeking someone to aid him in dealing with a strange monster. Following Claim, who had only received a minor injury on his arm during the battle, the party arrived at Poulton Keep where they encountered Breonna, the secretary of the keep's lord. She told them that a vile creature lurked in the basement and that another man had already come to do the job but had asked for a different payment instead of the gold offered, leaving room for the party to help. Suddenly, lord Poulton himself appeared, introducing himself to the party and showing them to the stairs leading to the basement where they would do the job. The other man hired for the job turned out to be Jalkarr, a firbolg with rotting skin and spiders living on his body. Once they had gotten somewhat accustomed to Jalkarr's disturbing appearance, the party ventured down into the cellar with him to investigate the monster infestation. Following a trail of blood, they entered a kitchen where three giant centipedes feasted upon a wolfhound Poulton had lost to the monster. As they dealt with the centipedes, a large, vaguely feline creature materialized from the shadows and a difficult battle followed until the beast was slain, rendered headless by Fritz' doing. Carrying the head of the monstrous entity with them, the party exchanged it for their reward. Jalkarr, however, had been offered a meeting with Joris' brother, the druid Holden, to seek guidance regarding a dark corruption spreading in his homeland. Having nothing better to do, the party followed Jalkarr into a tree which brought them to the Forest of Fey. The old druid complied with Jalkarr's request for aid, but stated that he would need an item in order to conduct a necessary ritual. The party was guided by a small, green glowing sphere of vines that took them into the forest where they found a javelin on an old stone slab. Upon approaching the slab, a foul troll emerged from the dense tree line and engaged them in battle. They collected the javelin and slew its guardian before making their way back to the druid, who used the javelin to summon a lightning bolt that struck the ground in the center of a prepared ritual circle.